A Reactionary Trucker Strike In America...

[Creative Destruction]

Apparently, a bunch of truckers are trying to organize a strike in October, citing "Muslims", "Benghazi" and "fuel prices" as reasons.

http //www dot theblaze dot com/stories/2013/09/18/why-are-truckers-threatening-to-shut-down-washington-d-c-for-three-days-straight/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=story&utm_campaign=ShareButtons


My fellow patriot this effort is to support the truckers in a major shut down of America ion [sic] a 3 day strike October 11th thru 13th. Obamacare will be in effect and most people will be ready to take action. No commerce on those days stock up on items that you will need. No banking no shopping no money transactions.

It does not matter if a million or 50 roll through DC in this effort. Congress will listen to We the People. Which is remove Obama from office for crimes of treason and misdemeanors. We want Congressional hearing on Benghazi and Seal Team 6. Louis Learner [sic] put in jail. No amnesty, remove all Muslims in our government that do not uphold the Constitution. Remove Eric Holder from office for crimes against the people and the Constitution. Last but not least is Fuel prices.

I got air of this from someone who was, a few weeks ago, making fun (and being really nasty about it) of fast food workers for striking for better wages...

This sounds a lot like the Chilean trucker strike in '73. Same reactionary BS, but this, obviously, will probably have no effect. This does bring up something interesting though: would it be possible to arrange a trucker's strike with a more substantial labor component to it? Kind of as a counter-strike to this one?

[Paul Pott]

It seems this has nothing to do with the strike, though some opportunistic types are trying to take advantage of it and make it all about Obama.

Here's the Facebook description:


The American people are sick and tired of the corruption that is destroying America! We therefore declare a GENERAL STRIKE on the weekend of October 11-13, 2013! Truck drivers will not haul freight! Workers will call in sick! Consumers will not buy or sell anything on this date! Stay home! Buy nothing!

[Popular Front of Judea]

A mention in the Blaze and a Facebook page? We have a mass movement here! Does anyone here remember the million armed man march on D.C. this July 4th? Anyone?

I love the obvious stock photos that are used in this.

From the Facebook page. Looks like a screen capture from a video game:

https://scontent-a-pao.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/1209164_434806659969841_2135427202_n.jpg

And there's this meme found in the Blaze article. Looks like a working truck to me ... :

http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/1239582_435421973241643_488948193_n.jpg

[Creative Destruction]

It seems this has nothing to do with the strike, though some tea party type elements are trying to take advantage of it.

Here's the Facebook description:

The American people are sick and tired of the corruption that is destroying America! We therefore declare a GENERAL STRIKE on the weekend of October 11-13, 2013! Truck drivers will not haul freight! Workers will call in sick! Consumers will not buy or sell anything on this date! Stay home! Buy nothing!

Well, now I'm confused. Was there an actual trucker strike planned for October? I was under the impression that the same people calling for the strike are the same people who are putting out this reactionary shit.

[Paul Pott]

It's hard to say.

[Sea]

Well, now I'm confused. Was there an actual trucker strike planned for October? I was under the impression that the same people calling for the strike are the same people who are putting out this reactionary shit.

Usually when people talk about the forces of evil that are "destroying America", they're coming from a right-wing perspective. So yeah, your impressions are correct.

[argeiphontes]

Not to make light of right-wing propaganda, but to make light of right-wing propaganda...

I love how "Obamacare will be in effect and most people will be ready to take action." Yeah, they'll be ready to take their new insurance cards and finally see a doctor.

"Congress will listen to We the People." :laugh:

This "movement" is what, three or four people?

[Popular Front of Judea]

his does bring up something interesting though: would it be possible to arrange a trucker's strike with a more substantial labor component to it? Kind of as a counter-strike to this one?

It's not that there aren't legitimate grievances behind the talk. From the Facebook page:

I've been saying for years We can't afford NOT to shut down. The big companies can't fire every driver that participates if they all join in. Driver's today are making the same rate I made 20 years ago. They no longer get safety bonuses or fuel bonuses. With FMCSA regulations they're on the road longer stretches at a time but sitting more and making less. We don't get paid sitting at a shipper or receiver for hours on end. Since deregulation brokers are raping us. Taking up to 50% of the rate for sitting at a desk making a phone call while the driver pays all the expense to transport. If we're not willing to shut down we may as well flip burgers for minimum wage. You take the hours a driver puts in and divide it with the pay and we make less then minimum wage.

Teamsters the ball is in your court.

[Creative Destruction]

It's not that there aren't legitimate grievances behind the talk. From the Facebook page:

I've been saying for years We can't afford NOT to shut down. The big companies can't fire every driver that participates if they all join in. Driver's today are making the same rate I made 20 years ago. They no longer get safety bonuses or fuel bonuses. With FMCSA regulations they're on the road longer stretches at a time but sitting more and making less. We don't get paid sitting at a shipper or receiver for hours on end. Since deregulation brokers are raping us. Taking up to 50% of the rate for sitting at a desk making a phone call while the driver pays all the expense to transport. If we're not willing to shut down we may as well flip burgers for minimum wage. You take the hours a driver puts in and divide it with the pay and we make less then minimum wage.

Teamsters the ball is in your court.

damn, well if they actually made those grievances front and center, this would be something to get behind.

the cognitive dissonance of some of these folks is pretty amazing, though. i mean, first a bunch of conservatives calling for a general strike. then, one of them is complaining about deregulation, and basically talking like a damn union organizer. yet they're backing an action that has its roots in a movement that constantly complains about government interference and has a deference toward capital.

[argeiphontes]

^ I guess those are some real "achievements" of reactionary propaganda. I have to explain to my own mother, who was born and raised in the Eastern Bloc, why Obama is not a socialist, because she's been brainwashed by her boyfriend, a former government worker who's against the government, and their mutual love for Fox News...

[Red Commissar]

damn, well if they actually made those grievances front and center, this would be something to get behind.

the cognitive dissonance of some of these folks is pretty amazing, though. i mean, first a bunch of conservatives calling for a general strike. then, one of them is complaining about deregulation, and basically talking like a damn union organizer. yet they're backing an action that has its roots in a movement that constantly complains about government interference and has a deference toward capital.

Yeah, it's amazing how one goes from something like that and go to trying to address manufactroversy around Benghazi or purging Mooooslims out of the government. How would any of this solve problems or those facing the rest of the country? Almost echoes Bebel's quote about antisemitism being the socialism of fools.

Honestly most of their talking points seem to be trying haaard to get support from teabaggers. I won't be surprised if they end up getting more support from that crowd than truckers themselves. That leads into a relevant question- how many truckers are even seriously into this?

[Creative Destruction]

Yeah, it's amazing how one goes from something like that and go to trying to address manufactroversy around Benghazi or purging Mooooslims out of the government. How would any of this solve problems or those facing the rest of the country? Almost echoes Bebel's quote about antisemitism being the socialism of fools.

Honestly most of their talking points seem to be trying haaard to get support from teabaggers. I won't be surprised if they end up getting more support from that crowd than truckers themselves. That leads into a relevant question- how many truckers are even seriously into this?

well, my cousin, who i got this from, is a trucker and supports it wholeheartedly. one of his friends, who is also a trucker, was getting into an argument with him about how these things didn't work in 78 or in 93 when american truckers went on strike. though back then, i think they were doing it and putting labor issues on the forefront.

[adipocere]

Sounds like the tactics for the type of "Democracy" the US was so fucking concerned with in Central and South America in the past. Unfortunately for the patrons of Tea Party Fascism, you need pretty strong labor organization and brutal military/police backing to economically derail a government - which as far as right wing revolution is concerned, I don't think hey have either...well I hope not.

[Marxaveli]

This strike is the epitome of American 'false consciousness'. Typical right-wing scapegoating - it's much easier to use xenophobia and blame government instead of recognizing the shortcomings of the shoddy capitalist system. Yuck. I think if I hear one more libertarian idiot blame the government for the problems of capitalism, I'm going to scream.

[Creative Destruction]

another thing i wanted to bring up:

how do owner-operators of trucks factor into the larger worker struggle? i was just reading a report that said o/os get paid, on average, $4,000 less a year than employee truckers. they also get no insurance or any other benefits because they are contractors and are in, really, no position to negotiate the contract. most contracts also oblige the truck drivers to only work for one company at a time.

the nature of the trucking business necessitates a lot of people becoming owner/operators or leasing trucks and the companies are able to be choosy. another interesting statistic, though, 46% of o/os would be willing to unionize if given the chance.

eta. now that i can post links (yay), here's the link to that paper: http://www.unf.edu/uploadedFiles/aa/coas/cci/ports/REPORT_Jaxport%20Drayage%20Report%20CCI%20Format-Rev1.pdf

[Lily Briscoe]

See just because someone calls something a strike, doesn't make it so. And I see absolutely nothing to suggest that this is anything other than a facebook 'call-out' by some braindead right-wing small businessmen which has about as much in common with an actual workers' strike as a handful of university students making a facebook page for the purpose of calling a dockworkers' strike heh. OP might want to change the thread title to one which reflects reality, as opposed to one which bigs up the fantasy of the hicks whose internet political project this is.

[Devrim]

The American people are sick and tired of the corruption that is destroying America! We therefore declare a GENERAL STRIKE on the weekend of October 11-13, 2013! Truck drivers will not haul freight! Workers will call in sick! Consumers will not buy or sell anything on this date! Stay home! Buy nothing!

:laugh:

Devrim

[argeiphontes]

^ A ha ha ha ha ha... good catch there.

[Creative Destruction]

fantasy of the hicks

nice. very good.

[Creative Destruction]

:laugh:

Devrim

in fairness, though, truckers don't stop work on the weekend. i'd figure the purpose of that was to try and get non-truckers out there to support them.

[Creative Destruction]

See just because someone calls something a strike, doesn't make it so. And I see absolutely nothing to suggest that this is anything other than a facebook 'call-out' by some braindead right-wing small businessmen which has about as much in common with an actual workers' strike as a handful of university students making a facebook page for the purpose of calling a dockworkers' strike heh. OP might want to change the thread title to one which reflects reality, as opposed to one which bigs up the fantasy of the hicks whose internet political project this is.

In the trucking industry, many people are pretty much forced to own and operate their own rigs since that's the only way a lot of companies (especially long haul companies) will hire any sort of labor. The actual bosses get to be choosy about it and there's really no reason for them not to be if there aren't any companies around them that are directly hiring drivers or if there is no union around.

The contracts that these O/Os are given are atrocious. Aside from being paid a low rate per mile, they get no benefits, no pension and they have no bargaining power because they are classed as independent contractors. Also, most contracts will stipulate that you can only drive for one company at a time. These aren't "small business owners" in the sense of someone being a general contractor. These are folks who are basically employees, except the companies often don't pay for maintenance and the truckers don't get paid when they're at the docks, loading or unloading. They have to eat that expense.

All told, O/Os, on average, make less than if they were directly employed by a company. They also get treated worse. The fact that they endure all this shit probably plays into and help cultivates the individualist mindset that many O/Os have, which of course is dangerous in and of itself.

So, small businessmen? Maybe technically. But only because they're forced into the position. They're probably the biggest example of an industry abusing "independent contractor" statuses. Read the report that I linked in this thread. 46% of truckers said they would readily give up O/O status to become unionized.

[Creative Destruction]

I'm thinking about crafting an open letter to them and posting it on their Facebook. If they got rid of the bigoted crap and focused on their labor issues, this could actually be something.

[Devrim]

in fairness, though, truckers don't stop work on the weekend. i'd figure the purpose of that was to try and get non-truckers out there to support them.

Yes, but they are calling for a general strike. The very idea of calling a general strike at the weekend is absurd. It fits with the rest of it though because the whole thing is absurd, and will come to nothing.

Devrim

[Workers-Control-Over-Prod]

damn, well if they actually made those grievances front and center, this would be something to get behind.

the cognitive dissonance of some of these folks is pretty amazing, though. i mean, first a bunch of conservatives calling for a general strike. then, one of them is complaining about deregulation, and basically talking like a damn union organizer. yet they're backing an action that has its roots in a movement that constantly complains about government interference and has a deference toward capital.

You know what? All this shit is looney. I mean, it's really crazy to me. This could never happen in a country where left political opposition exists and is part of public discourse and culture.

[CyM]

If this is actually real on the ground, the real reasons for it are economic and could come to the fore.

The confusion is to be expected considering how far back the left has been thrown.

[Devrim]

If this is actually real on the ground, the real reasons for it are economic and could come to the fore.

It is not real in any way.

Devrim

[Flying Purple People Eater]

Conservatives ordering a general strike? What in the piss?

Hell, conservatives ordering a strike?

[Ceallach_the_Witch]

it's a shame, really, because I think that a genuine general strike by truckers could be pretty effective - especially in the US where transport is (afaik) much more dependent on roads and so on.